


Protecting What’s Mine

by idontwantperfection



Series: Descendants AUs & such like [3]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), F/M, Gen, Protective Mal (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25250392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontwantperfection/pseuds/idontwantperfection
Summary: “I’m not kidding. When I get a hold of them, I’m going to break every bone in their body, find out everything they know, then barbecue them. And I haven’t decided on the order yet.”Ben didn’t send for the VKs, but true love always finds a way.Ben and Mal are 23 now, and have been sneaking on and off the Isle for a year. But when someone takes a shot at King Adam during a press conference, Mal refuses to watch from the sidelines.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants)
Series: Descendants AUs & such like [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960822
Comments: 14
Kudos: 197





	Protecting What’s Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I’ve been working on a little something which is a lot longer (currently quite a few chapters and 16k words...) but this version of the assassination attempt wouldn’t leave me alone. So I wrote it as a stand alone. 
> 
> The only things I feel I need to point out that isn’t in the body of the story are:  
> \- Mal and Hades aren’t bound by the barrier. It stops evil magic, but god powers aren’t inherently good or bad.  
> \- Ben accidentally ended up on the Isle a year before. Mal saved his ass, rocked his world, and the first thing he did after getting off the Isle was sneak back on to see her.
> 
> I’ll post the full version....when I finish it.

“Hi, I’m Snow White, and now we’re back to the main stage, where King Adam is about to take the podium.” 

Mal repressed a snort as EQ predictably threw popcorn at the TV screen, as if it could reach her stepdaughter. Even twenty five years later, EQ was still bitter. It had mellowed now. She was no longer vindictive and plotting - she was petty and irritable and threw the popcorn because she felt like it. 

It also helped that Snow White had clearly had work done - if there was one thing stepmother and daughter shared, it was a love of botox. At least EQ had never gone for the boob job, Snow obviously had. 

Evie, thankfully, had no such love affair with going under the knife. Either that, or a healthy fear of the Isle’s ‘plastic surgeons’.

It was a ritual in Dragon Hall now. Every time the Royal Family were on TV, EQ gathered them all around to boo and hiss. Mal couldn’t remember a time when they didn’t. So despite being twenty three with an Isle to run, she and Evie dutifully sat through the three hour newsreel before the press conference. These were some of her best memories from their childhood, so this was one fight they could live with conceding. 

Besides, EQ wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs when she didn’t get her way. 

Mal was curled up on one end of the beat up sofa, lazily flicking through a magazine she’d brought back from her last trip to Auradon. Not that she admitted that’s where it came from - she let everyone think she’d snagged it off a supply ship. That was more believable than the truth. That the daughter of Maleficent had been sneaking around with Crown Prince Benjamin for almost a year. 

Who’d believe that?

Evie. Evie would believe that. 

Evie, who was sitting on the other side of her mother, with her sketchbook open as she designed something far too regal for the Isle. From Mal’s vantage point, she could see a full skirt and sweetheart neckline. The dress looked like the night sky - deep blues and purples and white dots for crystals. 

Mal didn’t ask Evie about the sketch - or any of the other sixty three like it - and Evie didn’t ask where Mal disappeared off to every few weeks. When she got back a few days ago, Evie had casually mentioned that Jay and Carlos had noticed Harry Hook was awol this weekend too. 

Uma also noticed. Apparently, Uma was furious and Harry may actually require the hook soon.

But the glint in her eye told Mal that she knew damn well that her best friend hadn’t been with the pirate. 

“I don’t understand why you make us watch this drivel,” Maleficent groused from the island in the kitchen. Mal’s mother always pretended that she wasn’t interested in these things, but Mal knew her mother made a point to keep in the loop with Auradonian politics. 

“It is not drivel,” EQ gasped, clutching a hand over her heart. Mal met Evie’s eye and they shared a smirk. This happened every time. There was something reassuring in the familiarity. 

It was in the moments like these that their mothers weren’t batshit crazy. When they were more than evil lunatics. They were getting mellow as they aged - marginally, somehow - yet were still just as deadly. 

Unlike Cruella, who got crazier as the years wore on. Carlos had had to recruit minions to stay with her at Hell Hall - because he sure as hell wasn’t looking after her. 

“Speaking of drivel,” EQ continued without looking away from the screen, “where is that two-bit salesman now? He knows the conference starts at three.”

“And it is exactly...two fifty-eight.” Jay laughed as he vaulted over the other sofa and into the cushions. He threw a self-satisfied grin at EQ before reaching forward to snag some chips from the bowl on the table. Another one of her ‘supply ship’ finds. 

EQ rolled her eyes and began bickering with Jafar about timekeeping. Carlos shook his head as he grabbed the spot next to Jay, saving them both from the prospect of sharing with Maleficent. In terms of their parents, this was a good day. They didn’t want to jinx it anymore than the circumstances already did. 

They had no idea what the topic of the press conference was going to be - and even if Mal could share, Ben hadn’t mentioned it during their weekend together. Depending on the content, it could spark a rage in their parents. Or it could be another afternoon of good natured mocking. 

Which way it went was anyone’s guess really. 

“Shush now, it’s starting,” EQ waved at them quickly, instructing them to be silent. The royal fanfare began, and the camera panned in on the stage. 

Mal tried to look disinterested, she really did. But then Ben stepped out onto the stage with his parents. And his crown was just _a little_ crooked. 

Nothing like the tilt she always insisted on making when she saw him in it. And she knew there were pictures in his cell from the weekend - of her, in his bed, wearing nothing _but_ his crown. 

“Oh I _know_. If I was thirty years younger...” EQ gushed when she noticed Mal sitting straighter as Ben walked across the stage, waving to the crowd. He looked so at ease. So happy. 

It was almost like they hadn’t argued before she came home. 

“If you were thirty years younger, he’d be dead from an undiagnosed bee allergy,” Maleficent deadpanned from the kitchen, still engrossed in her spellbook. “Take notes, girls.”

This time, Mal and Evie didn’t try to hold back the laugh. 

This was nice. It was her normal. She didn’t pretend that life on the Isle was easy. Or that their parents were perfect. Or even caring, most of the time. But it was her life. She didn’t want to give it up to be some prissy pink princess. 

“And there’s King Beast, soaking up the spotlight as usual.” Jafar groaned as King Adam stepped up to the podium. The camera focused on him, filling the screen. He waved to the crowd, smiling. 

And then he went down. 

Mal’s stomach dropped. 

She was only vaguely aware of the gasps surrounding her. Of the crow of excitement from her mother. Of the screams and pops coming through the TV. 

Someone was shooting up the press conference. 

Someone was shooting _at_ _Ben_. 

“ _Ben_ ,” Mal breathed, jumping to her feet, ignoring the chaos that was her makeshift family. Her gaze was fixed on the screen. The cameraman had obviously dropped to the ground for protection, but the camera on the tripod was still steady. Mal could see Ben and Queen Belle rushing to the King’s side. She could see Ben pressing down on his father’s chest, ducking bullets that continued to fly towards him. She could see them impacting the curtain behind the podium. Hitting the stage. In almost slow motion, she saw a bullet whizz past his shoulder. 

She saw the wind from the shot ruffle his hair. She saw him flinch, fear written across his face. 

Mal didn’t need to turn to Evie, she could feel her best friend’s concerned gaze. Instead she fixed Jay and Carlos with a look, “I need you to trust me.”

She closed her eyes and focused, her world disappearing a cloud of purple smoke. When she opened her eyes, she was in the middle of a new brand of chaos.

“ _Enough!”_

…

“ _Enough!”_

Mal opened her eyes as the green flames receded, throwing her hands out at her sides, as if she was bracing for impact. Instead, a purple field of energy appeared around them. Inside, safe, were Ben and his mother. 

Mal had made sure to exclude any of the bodyguards, anyone who might view them as threats. 

“Mal?” She heard Ben gasp - in relief, in shock, she wasn’t sure - but she didn’t let herself react. Not yet. 

She let her eyes glow, the power flowing through her body. For once, she didn’t try to tamper it down. 

There was no barrier that she needed to pretend to be bound by. No need to pretend to be normal. Her father had made sure she could use her powers in anger. 

And right now, she was _furious_. 

“E, tend to the King.” Mal instructed as she scanned the crowd, the pavilion, the surrounding area. She was looking for a sign of something untoward. Someone who didn’t fit. 

She plucked their medikit from its place in the loft and dropped it on the ground next to the King. To her credit, Evie didn’t even blink. She simply threw her hair over one shoulder and dropped in a crouch next to Ben’s father. She began murmuring reassurances as she checked the wound in his shoulder, flirting easily. 

Mal vaguely registered Ben’s shout that they weren’t a threat, that they were on his side.

She was too busy focusing on the bullets bouncing off her shield. There was a quick burst - as if the sniper had continued to fire before they realised what was happening - and then they dropped off suddenly. Mal traced the bullets back, zeroing in on a row of balconies above some cafes and shops at the edge of the square. 

She caught a movement on one of the balconies. A red hood ducked back in through the window.

Mal glanced at Carlos and Jay who flanked her on either side, tensed, ready to act. She knew they were shocked - they had no idea about her magic, about Ben - but they stood by her side, ready to fight her fight. 

How did she get so lucky? 

Inclining her head towards the balcony, ignoring the way her friends’ eyes widened when they noticed the glow, she barked, “Red hood. The buildings on the north east side of the square. Middle balcony. Go.”

She opened her shield a fraction, wide enough for Jay and Carlos to barrel through. Jay went through the crowd taking the direct route to the ground floor. Carlos went high, swinging from the scaffolding that was erected for the press conference to the balconies of the building on the east. Ideally, they should have the sniper cornered. 

“I want him alive!” She called after them, almost an afterthought. 

Sometimes, on the Isle, enemy spies would kill themselves rather than be captured. She wondered if things were the same in Auradon. 

Dropping her hands, she spun on her heel to focus on the royal family. She was confident enough in her shield to let her focus shift. 

Ben, seeming to sense her movement, looked up from his spot next to his father. His crown was completely askew now, but Mal barely noticed. Instead, all she could see was the blood staining his shirt as he moved to stand.

“Tell me you’re okay,” Mal finally let the glow drop from her eyes as she reached for Ben. She didn’t care about their audience, or appearing detached, or saving face over their last argument. He was hers and he was in danger and she needed to make sure he was okay before she lost control and went dragon on someone. “You’re bleeding.”

Her hands went straight to the stains on his shirt, running her hands over his chest and arms. As she was checking for injuries, Ben wasted no time in pulling her into his arms. Clinging to her, he whispered in wonder, “You’re here.”

“Of course I’m here.” Mal’s words were muffled against his chest, completely ignoring the fact he was pressing her cheek into a patch of blood. Her hands fisted in his shirt, reassuring them both that he was okay, “Someone shot at you. I’m going to kill them.”

“No you’re not,” Ben laughed in spite of himself. The sound was hollow, clearly coming from the shock of the last few minutes.

“I’m not kidding,” Mal pulled back, her eyebrow quirked. “When I get a hold of them, I’m going to break every bone in their body, find out everything they know, then barbecue them. And I haven’t decided on the order yet.”

It had become a running joke between them. Her response to everything tended to involve violence and murder. Especially at perceived slights to Ben. Or girls making passes at him. He would tell her she couldn’t joke about killing everyone. She replied she wasn’t joking. 

But she was totally going to fry the person in the red hood.

For once, she would revel in being her mother's daughter.

It was time to give Auradon a taste of evil.

**Author's Note:**

> Aug 2020: The longer, darker version of this can be found under ‘Dragon’s Fire’ on my profile!


End file.
